Personal conveyance is off-duty use of a commercial motor vehicle for personal reasons when the movement is not for the commercial benefit of the carrier, shipper, or receiver. A carrier may authorize the category and set a stricter policy.
What this means for your fleet
Write a carrier policy with allowed and prohibited examples, require a specific annotation, and review patterns such as repeated movement toward a shipper, terminal, or next assignment. Apply the facts of the trip, not a mileage shortcut.
The commercial-benefit boundary
Personal conveyance is off-duty use of a commercial motor vehicle for personal reasons when the movement is not for the commercial benefit of the carrier, shipper, or receiver. Carrier authorization does not turn a business movement into personal conveyance. A trip from lodging to a restaurant may qualify when genuinely personal; repositioning closer to the next load generally requires a different analysis. Record the actual purpose and obtain qualified review for mixed-purpose movement.
What to check
Use these checks before changing a log, policy, device, integration, or buying decision.
| Check | How to verify |
|---|---|
| 1. Confirm the driver is relieved from work | Keep the driver's off-duty state, relief from work and responsibility, dispatch release, time/location, remaining obligations, and reviewer. |
| 2. Identify the personal purpose | Retain the stated personal purpose, origin, destination, passengers or personal activity, timing, dispatch context, and facts excluding commercial benefit. |
| 3. Check carrier policy | Keep the current carrier policy, authorization, allowed/prohibited examples, stricter limits, acknowledgement, reviewer, and version. |
| 4. Record the special status and annotation | Preserve the original event, selected personal-conveyance category, start/end time and location, specific annotation, driver review, and audit history. |
| 5. Review destination and commercial benefit | Attach route/destination and next assignment context, shipper/carrier benefit analysis, qualified reviewer, decision, correction, and dispatch action. |
Common failure modes
- Setting an arbitrary mileage allowance as the rule.
- Using it to advance a load.
- Leaving the purpose unannotated.
Limits and exceptions
This guide does not decide a fact-specific legal exception, certify a record, or guarantee a compliance, safety, cost, or audit outcome. Keep the original ELD record and any edit history. Use the current official rule for applicability and the exact installed-device manual for screen-by-screen actions.
Sources, review date, and limits
Reviewed August 10, 2026. Each source supports only the point described beside it. Rules and product details can change; recheck dynamic facts before changing a fleet workflow or signing a contract.
- Official recording-HOS FAQ covering duty status, personal conveyance, yard move, team-driver records, odometer/location data, and edits — Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
- Editing, annotation, certification, and original-record preservation — Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
- Current first-party product, plan, feature, and support representations; dynamic facts require release-date recheck — Factor ELD.
Review the exact operation
Bring the driver, vehicle, trip, jurisdiction, current official rule, and original ELD record for a qualified determination. Factor ELD can demonstrate its current product; rule applicability remains a fleet compliance decision.